Just Dance
by Perkele
Summary: A short story about a dance event the SOS-Brigade attends, much to Kyon's apprehension. P.S. story bears no connection to a pop song of the same name, just so you know.
1. Overture

I can't believe I'm doing this! Man, this suit is so stifling, I can hardly breath, not to mention move. It's so tight and confined, I don't think I can even lift my arms up properly. And it itches…

"You look uncomfortable," Koizumi pointed out, smiling politely.

The stupid idiot…

Koizumi was standing next to me, looking prim and proper in his tuxedo, and not to mention extremely comfortable (the lucky bastard). He was fastening those buttons on his sleeves – whatever they're called – and looking very pleased with himself. When he was done with that, taking one last look in the mirror in front of us to inspect himself, he stood perfectly straight, looking like the perfect gentleman.

My reflection next to his looked like a hunchback suffering from some sort of itchiness and sweat inducing disease. Everything seemed out of place on me. It was like staring at a hobo trying to pass off as high society. Although the tux was decent enough, I had been unable to put it on properly. Odd angles and folds were everywhere. It was hard to fathom where exactly I had gone so wrong, it was nothing more than a pair of pants and a coat after all! Sure there were extra bits here and there but… still…

"Need some help?" Koizumi asked, still smiling at our reflections in a smug manner.

"…No, I'll be fine," I said sternly as I tried to twist my sleeve the right way up.

"It wouldn't be a bother."

"No, I can handle it."

"All we would have to do is take the jacket and –"

"I can figure it out."

And just what is this thing on my chest? It looks like a piece of plastic, but looking at Koizumi, it's supposed to be a fetching vest or something. I just have no knowledge of fancy clothing whatsoever.

"Come now, it'll be over in moments."

"I said I'm…" My words halted as I thought I heard something rip, something in my sleeve as I had been pulling on it. Damn it! This is a rental!

Koizumi lifted my arm and looked under my armpit. "Just a small rip, easily fixed. Besides, no one shall notice it anyway. We can fix it later with the proper tools."

"Oh…"

"Now, if you'll allow me, we can have this over within moments and avoid any more accidents."

"…Fine…"

I allowed Koizumi to take my jacket off, straighten it out, and settle it on a nearby table while he made sure my undershirt was in proper order and did the impossible and fixed my vest before he helped me back into my jacket as if there had been nothing wrong with it in the first place. He tugged on my pants, straightening them out as well. He went over me with a meticulous approach, fixing and straightening things as he saw fit. Soon, I was practically as presentable as he was.

"There we go. Don't we look nice?" Koizumi said, sounding rather condescending to my ears.

"Uh, yeah… Thanks…"

"No trouble at all."

Damn…

"Well?" Koizumi asked, arching an eyebrow at me.

"What?"

Koizumi motioned at the doors behind us in a way a butler would. "Shall we go out? Our dates may already be waiting, and it is bad form to keep damsels waiting."

"Uh, yeah." I gave my collar a tug, trying to breath a bit better and relieve some of the pressure I was under.

"Oh, wait, how silly of me." Koizumi placed his hand on my shoulder, stopping my slow exit.

"What?"

"I completely forgot about our bow ties. How silly."

Yeah, freaking _hilarious_.

"Turn around," Koizumi said, doing the job for me as he directed me back to the mirror. I saw him pull something red out of his pocket in the mirror. Swiftly he wrapped it around my neck, tying it up from behind me, making the whole deal seem even more awkward. If I had any idea how bow ties were tied, I would have stopped him immediately.

Heck, I don't think I can even remember how to tie a regular tie properly like the one that's a part of our school uniform anymore. Once I had managed to get it to go right, I had never loosened it too much again so I could always just slip it on. And so, I was forced to watch the sullen looking me being dressed up not unlike some little child.

"Not too tight?" Koizumi asked, peering at my reflection from over my shoulder.

"Well, it's a bit –" Is there a stronger word than suffocating for what I'm feeling?

"I'll do my best, but it can't go much looser than it already is."

Can't go much looser than it already _is_? I feel like I'm being strangled!

"There we go… Now let's see what the color chosen for me is… ah, blue, but of course." Koizumi got next to me and swiftly tied his own tie around his neck. He had obviously done this sort of thing many times before.

"Well then, I think we're finally ready to make our grand entrance," Koizumi said, giving his tux a last yank around the collar, looking immensely pleased with himself.

No, not really. I really don't feel like doing this. I put a finger between my neck and bow tie, moving my finger back and forth under the blasted thing to get some room to breathe. As if this isn't bad enough, I actually have to dance. It's not that I have anything against dancing as such, it's just that me and it don't mix very well. The one day (one day!) I'd had to practice (thanks to the late warning I had been given regarding this event), hadn't exactly given me the skills to dance at even a mediocre level. My pathetic training sessions had made me wonder if the human body had been designed specifically NOT to dance, at least in my case. I seemed to have no sense of rhythm and I was always in the wrong position or something. Not to mention my head seemed incapable of being able to remember any dance moves. I needed to constantly go through the motions in my head or I would forget them. I had received a couple of bruises in the already painful training process as well, and most of them had come from my impatient instructor.

"Well, are you coming?" Koizumi, who had already moved to the door, with his hand placed on the handle, asked me as he raised his eyebrow a bit in an elegant fashion.

"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess," I said, giving a long sigh.

Koizumi opened the door, giving me the chance to step outside first. Maybe he thought his entrance would be all that more spectacular after my shabby appearance or something. Or maybe I was just in a foul mood and letting my paranoia get the best of me. Well, whatever… This is it, the end. I took a few slow steps forward, silently dreading the evening that waited outside for me.

Luckily however, there wasn't a single person in sight in the halls. Phew, maybe the thing's been cancelled.

"Hmm, I see everyone else has left already. We might be running late. I wonder where our dates have gotten to." Koizumi said as he stepped out next to me, giving the empty halls a look. "I suppose we should head to the dance hall."

Or we could just go home. It's not too late. There's an open window, we could use it to escape.

"Yes, I think I can hear sounds coming from the hall. Let's hurry," Koizumi said, taking the lead as he confidently strode down the hall.

I sighed in defeat and trudged along after him, still fiddling with my bow tie the whole way.

"Here we are," Koizumi said stopping in front of a pair of large and ornate doors. I could hear the murmur of a crowd behind it. Koizumi reached up with his gloved hands, seemingly ready to push both of the doors open in a melodramatic fashion.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. What do you think you're doing?" I asked, jumping in front of him.

"Going in, of course," the slightly surprised looking Koizumi said.

"Not like that. We'll just carefully sneak in. We'll probably get enough attention as it is, coming in late like this. Here's the plan: we just inch the door open and sneak into the crowd without arousing too much attention." I grabbed one of the fancy handles and gave it a slow turn.

"I'm not sure you're well acquainted with the design of the dance hall, if that is really your intent."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, but it was already too late. The door was open and all eyes turned to me in a hushed hurry. Apparently, there was only one doorway to the hall, which was ridiculously huge and on top of a stairway. Everyone turned to look at me, probably expecting the host or someone important to turn up. Now I was at the focus of the dead silent hall.

"Uh, hi…" I said.

I hurried down the stairs and headed for the corner of the hall, seeking a place where only a few of the people in the hall could continue staring at me. The hall itself was grand and very fitting of the event it was hosting tonight. Golden carvings like vines of some plant crawled over the pure white ceiling in magnificent patterns. The walls were lined with huge windows, letting in orange rays of light from a distant sunset that only seemed to intensify the expensive looking (although I sternly doubt it really was) golden scenery.

"Pardon us, we're a bit late," Koizumi said coolly to the gathered people at large, still smiling warmly as he closed the door behind him and elegantly strode down the stairs, joining me in my corner. "Hmm, I didn't spot our dates anywhere in the crowds, I wonder if they're late as well…"

Yeah, great, and then we'll have even more attention focused on us as they make their doubtlessly showy entrance.

"Hiya, Kyon!" Taniguchi shouted as he neared us, looking almost as haggard in his tux as I did. "Always at the centre of attention and action, am I right?" He nudged me in the ribs.

"Yeah, always…" Truer words have hardly ever been spoken, much less from the likes of Taniguchi.

"Have you checked out the hour derfs?"

"I think you mean h'orderves," Kunikida said, stepping out from nowhere, wearing a tux a size or two too large for him.

"Whatever… So, without a dancing partner as well, I see," Taniguchi said, sneering a little at me in what he probably thought was an endearing look of manly comradeship.

"Actually, no."

"What, even you've got a girl to dance with? First Kunikida and now even you? Where's the world going?"

"Don't you have a girlfriend or something?"

Taniguchi looked away, grimacing. "…It's a work in progress."

"Oh, I see…" Yep, that sounds about right, if Taniguchi had managed to get a girlfriend, which going by his looks shouldn't be _too_ hard, he'd probably mess up eventually. It's not that he's a _total_ schmuck or an idiot or something, it's just that he's… Taniguchi. You have a hard time picturing him in a long and deep relationship of any kind. But luckily for him, he does manage to surprise occasionally.

While I had been conversing with Taniguchi, Koizumi had, in the spirit of the event, formerly introduced himself to Kunikida and struck a conversation with him about such light subjects as school, local politics and even upcoming weather. It wasn't long until Kunikida left, saying he should check up on his date. Too bad for me he didn't realize to drag Taniguchi with him.

"I mean, seriously! How can I help it if this super hot chick walks by! There wasn't a single guy – or girl for that matter – who didn't look at her. Yet _I'm_ the villain! It's just – just genetic programming or something. We wouldn't even be around here if our ancestors hadn't been after – hmmm, what's the term Darwin used? – that's right, the fittest chick. But I told her there's no one as beautiful to me as she is but NO, you make one glance at another girl and she's throwing a tantrum. I mean, what happened to all these modern empowered women who are s'posed to be above physical –"

"Yeah, okay, I get the picture," I said, trying to calm Taniguchi down before he brought back all the attention towards my corner that had dissipated for the moment.

Koizumi joined the two of us and smoothly interjected himself into the conversation, giving his bangs a rather theatrical flick. "You make an interesting point on the social structures and inlaid stereotypes that surround us, although I must say I do not think that is exactly what Darwin was going after on his theories concerning natural selection, except in a very narrow sense. The process works through a sort of 'weeding out' of –"

"Who are you?" Taniguchi asked, at first so shocked by Koizumi's sudden appearance behind him, he almost jumped out of his scruffy tux. "Oh wait, you're that Koizumi guy, right? In that weird club of Suzumiya's along with Kyon?"

"Yes. We haven't had much chance to partake in proper dialogue, but perhaps we could find the time later this evening. I would be greatly interested in other social and behavioral observations you might have made concerning contemporary society."

"Uhh, sorry but I… have to go check up on those ow-derves," Taniguchi said, making an odd expression before he left us.

"Phew, thanks for driving him away. I don't think I could have handled his whining tonight."

"Whatever are you talking about?" Koizumi said, sounding a bit too serious as he raised a gentle, inquisitive eyebrow. "I truly am interested in what he had to say. I'm trying to live true to a perspectivist world view so I may fully understand life and all its myriad nuances, and in order to do that, I must gain as many perspectives on matters as possible. All opinions and thoughts have a seed of truth in them, even if they are distorted by our egos. This way, a subjective life and experience can be viewed from a different perspective, which will ultimately lead to an objective truth through a processing of correlating factors and exclusion of purely arbitrary ones. I will gain an insight into the world free of all subjective impressions, even my own."

"_Riiight_…" Can we just get this thing over with? I think I might be developing a rash around my neck because of this itchy ensemble I'm wearing.

"The main event is just about to start. I wonder where they are." Koizumi gave the crowds a scan, standing up on his toes to do so.

Maybe we got lucky and they won't show up at all. Then we could just sneak out and get out of these uncomfortable things. I swear, straitjackets must be more comfortable (and one of those would probably not look so out of place on me as this tux does). So itchy. I hope there's nothing alive in this suit along with me.

It was then that our dates for the evening finally made their appearance, predictably bursting onto the scene (whether this was truly their intention or not).

The heavy, ornate doors were roughly pushed aside, slamming against the walls. Standing up there at the top of the stairs, in the middle of the giant doorway, stood Haruhi, as proudly as an evenly tanned nudist. She was dressed in a deeply red dress, embroidered with golden frilly things. Her hair had been done up very nicely, it being gathered behind her head in a nice wavy bunch. She looked like a fairy tale princess from a western movie…

She was, however, not to be undone in beauty by the two other damsels trailing her like handmaidens. Dressed in a deep green dress of similar design as Haruhi's was Asahina-san with her hair done up in the back into a flowing and wavy ponytail of sorts as well. Nagato, whose hair was too short to be fashioned into something as luxurious as the others, had been left as it was, although a white flower had been placed in her hair, held in place by her ear I guess, with it working as a lovely simple ornament. In fact, Nagato had the most simplified appearance of the three, with her light blue dress being surprisingly casual in comparison to the other two. There were no folds or embroideries, just cloth that draped her slender body perfectly with only one small stretch of cloth on one of her shoulders holding it in place. This was definitely one of those cases where less was absolutely more. Wow, she is stunning.

"What are _you_ all looking at?" Haruhi said irritably, staring down the entirety of the hall, as she scratched her side carelessly.

As she walked down the stairs, glaring at everyone all the way, she eventually spotted me and Koizumi and strode over to us, the crowds parting to let her pass like she was a leper.

"Can we just get this thing over with?" Haruhi asked, wearing a scowl that rather ruined her beautiful appearance.

This was kind of funny, at least to me. And this is why:

Two days ago in our clubroom.

"We're attending the dance ball!" Haruhi shouted out enthusiastically, as she always did when she found some sort of activity for us to participate in.

"What? What ball?" This was the first I'd heard of any dance ball. My natural curiosity battled with my rational sense of apprehension towards everything Haruhi ever suggested and actually won out, so I decided to add, even though I knew I would probably regret it later, "Why?"

"All clubs are to partake. It's some kind of special event. Anyway, it'll be fun. We'll get to show off to all those other snooty clubs."

I gave a short sigh. Oh, well, it could be worse, right? At least, if it was an official school event like that, nothing too weird should happen and we'd probably have a nice, long time to prepare for it, unlike with some of the sporting events Haruhi had dragged us on.

"It's the day after tomorrow."

"What?!"

"Those pompous dorks probably thought they could keep the Brigade out of this by not notifying us on time, but I found out anyway. So we'll be crashing it." Haruhi smirked fiendishly at the last part. She had better not be planning on doing anything crazy.

I bet the reason we weren't invited was because we aren't _really_ a club. In fact, the real people in charge have probably noticed that it's best to keep Haruhi isolated from the rest of the school in her own little bubble. They probably think we'll be enough of a distraction for her so she doesn't go and defile school property like she did in her last school. Harmless little firecrackers on the roof and lascivious clothing in the yard seem like small prices to pay, really.

"This may just be me, but I certainly have no idea how to dance… So, could I just skip this?" I asked hesitantly, raising my hand a bit as I voiced my dissent, already knowing on a not-so-deep level what the answer would be.

"What?! Of course not! This is a club activity! As in, the whole club. We do everything monumental together, or what's the point in having the Brigade? I might as well be on my own if that were the case. And don't worry about not knowing how to dance," Haruhi said, before she smirked that troubling smirk of hers again, bringing her hand to her chin, giving her cheek a couple of small taps with her index finger, in what would be a cute mannerism if it didn't spell out certain future annoyance on my part. "I can teach you a move or two."

Oh boy… but more on that torturous experience later. Because as it is, I'm neck deep in… ach, so damn itchy! Seriously, what the hell? My throat is going to turn into a bloody mess at the rate I'm scratching at it.

"Seriously, can we just get the show on the road and be done with this stupid thing?" Haruhi asked no one in particular. She squirmed a bit in her dress, like she was trying to get it to settle into place or something. If you asked me, she looked simply gorgeous in it, but apparently her outfit was causing just as much discomfort to her as mine was for me.

The other two girls however were looking as comfortable in their dresses as was possible. Asahina-san kept smiling politely, looking in every way the princess she was to my eyes. Nagato scanned the gathered crowds blankly, until she was done with that and focused on our gathering. It was kind of odd seeing her in such a simple dress when the two others were so lavishly robed. I wonder how she got so lucky as to not have to wear anything as extravagant as the rest of us.

"We were going to dress up in matching dresses, of different colors, but we simply ran out of time," Haruhi explained, shrugging and shaking her head as she did so. "This thing really shouldn't have been so early."

"It's past ten," I noted.

"Yeah, like I said, _way_ too early for a proper shindig."

"And you left us five hours ago to prepare."

"You can't put a schedule on art, idiot. Sheesh, just how uncultured are you?" Haruhi asked, giving her hairdo a gentle pat.

It didn't even take the two of us an hour to get ready, and the only reason it took as long as it did was because I had trouble with my outfit. It can't really be that much harder for girls, can it?

"Once again your ignorance astounds and amazes, Kyon." Haruhi shook her head, wearing a condescending smile, holding her chin in an elegant pose with her right hand and then gave her head a playful tilt.

Man, she's really got this haughty princess act figured down to the T. But then I noticed her give her back a carefully half-hidden scratch with her left hand. Heh, a fine lady indeed.

Our group filled up the minutes we had with rather empty small talk, keeping to ourselves, defeating the purpose of attending such a social event. But then again, it wasn't like anyone really wanted to make our acquaintance, and it wasn't just because we were huddled in our own little corner or anything, but most likely simply because of our widespread status as sort of weirdo pariahs. But to be completely honest, I don't really mind all that much anymore. The club is pretty much my entire social life nowadays anyway. I haven't been able to decide if that makes me rather lucky, to have such a close nit group of friends, or sort of pathetic since I can't seem to be able to socialize with anyone that isn't considered out of the norm anymore these days.

"Gah! This so annoying! Are we doing this thing or not? Or am I going to have to start providing the music?" Haruhi eventually snapped out loud, glaring about until she spotted the orchestral band. "Hmm, I haven't tried playing a string instrument in a while but I think I could fiddle a tune or two."

Geez, is there anything you _can't_ do?

"Wait around anymore." Haruhi lifted the hems of her dress and stamped across the ball room, giving anyone unlucky enough to not move out of her way a kick in the behind. "Move aside! One way! Dodge! Did you just kick me back?!"

Oh boy…

"It was either you or your boyfriend trying to cup a feel!!"

With Haruhi drawing everyone's attention to her once again, this would be an excellent chance to sneak out and avoid any more embarrassment.

"Kyon! Get over here and defend the SOS-Brigade's honor whilst I go and make sure this over blown farce gets started!" Haruhi turned and waved at me to come over before she turned back to continue her journey. "Move!! Get out of my way, you painted pig!"

Oh, _damn it_. She just had to wave at me… Fine, I guess I won't be leaving without notice now but you can forget about defending _your_ honor. But I guess I should go and apologize for her, since it'll be pleasantly warm day on Pluto before Haruhi does something like that herself. And on top of that, I've already been dragged into the middle of this mess.

"Sorry for that, she forgot to take her medicine for today," I told the victimized girl who may or may not have tried to give Haruhi a taste of her own medicine.

"I did not! I mean, I don't take my medicine! No, I mean, I don't need any! Damn it, Kyon, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Haruhi shouted back at me, her march toward the suddenly frightened looking band stopping for a moment so she could berate me. "Don't make me come back there and teach the lot of you some manners!"

Ain't that rich? In any case, I once again apologized to the girl in a hushed voice and made my best Obelix impersonation, tapping my temple with a finger, hoping Haruhi wouldn't notice and interrupt my attempt at damage control. The girl gave a faint smile and nodded understandingly.

"What's taking so long?!" Haruhi bellowed at the band so loud that now everyone's attention, even in the farthest corners, was sure to be on her.

The little rat-like conductor of the troupe was pushed to the forefront by his cowering players, not unlike a human sacrifice to a dragon, who was gripping his baton like the lifeline it unfortunately failed to be, losing all the blood in his face as a dementedly fearful look in his eyes increased in intensity with every small step towards Haruhi, who was tapping her foot against the tiled marble floor with a fierce rat-tat-tat.

The conductor squeaked something inaudible and flinched as Haruhi gave him a glare. Then she leaned in close to him, causing the poor guy to further collapse into himself, probably fearful of being assaulted like some of the guests. But Haruhi quickly pulled back, having whispered whatever it was to the poor guy, flicking her bangs in a self-important manner, and walked off incredibly nonchalantly for someone who had the full focus of an entire ball room on her.

The conductor was shivering and some of the bravest (relatively speaking) members of the band gathered around him to ask what Haruhi had said. The color in his face suddenly returned, going from anemically pale to wine red in a fraction of a second. He turned around and shouted at his band and quickly ordered them to take their places. Apparently, the show was about to start.

As the band hastily fine-tuned their instruments, making quite a cacophonous racket, Haruhi arrived by my side, looking immensely self-satisfied.

"What did you _do_?"

"Oh, wouldn't _you_ like to know…" Haruhi gave me a sinister glance from under her bangs, which suggested just far too many things for a rather imaginative guy like me.

I gave the surrounding crowds a swift look and was not happy to find everyone still staring at us. Oh boy, this is going to be a long night, isn't it? Maybe I can go and check up on those h'orderves with Taniguchi. It'd be irresponsible of me to leave him alone with the snacks. I can't just turn my back on my duty to the rest of humanity, they'll want some appetizers as well.

"Calm down, Kyon. Thanks to me, both of us will be out of these itchy things soon enough," Haruhi said, giving her stomach a little scratch.

I hadn't even noticed that my hand had travelled back to my neck to scratch it as I had been entertaining escapist thoughts.

The conductor loudly cleared his throat, instantly summoning perfect silence, achieving this probably because Haruhi had focused everyone's attention to her and the band, and then tapped his baton three times against the metal stand holding up his notes.

"Ah, here we go," Haruhi said, taking a step closer to me.

Is it just me, or is it getting a lot hotter in here as well? I should probably step outside, I might be coming down with something.

"C'mon, Kyon, let's dance."

"Ummm…"

Now that the moment had actually arrived, I had somehow managed to feel even more apprehensive than before. Worst of all, the two of us had in some way been isolated into a little circle at the middle of everyone. Now my horrible dancing skills would literally be at the centre of it all. Perfect.

"Come on, it's easy." Haruhi took hold of my shoulder and with her other hand gripped my left hand, lifting it up. "Just do it like you did during practice…" Haruhi blushed a little at this. "A-actually, don't do it like that, at least not the way you tried to do it earlier, but how it went... afterwards… I hope we don't need to repeat what we did to each other in order to achieve that level of grace again. It'll take too long for you to recover. Keep mindful that we're in public where lewdness is not permitted and your hands where I can see them, especially the one you put against my back. "

That's impossible!

And what she's referring to wasn't really all that bad as she is making it sound… I mean, it wasn't all my fault, and that's what counts in the end.


	2. Crescendo

It was the day before the dances. Haruhi had decided not to train the previous day as it was, to quote her, 'too late in the evening to teach idiots' (this comment being aimed at me, of course). She also wanted to properly prepare for the lesson, seeing as she would be the instructor. At the time, no one even knew if she was any good at it, but seeing as this was Haruhi, she would do it anyways even if she did indeed suck at it just as long as she had her set mind on it, but then again, I don't think there's anything this girl can't do. Her and her stupid god powers. No one can be that good at everything otherwise, can they?

She had sent me early to the clubroom to clear out enough space to practice. I had told her there wasn't enough space, but she had denied my idea of moving somewhere more spacious, like even outside, on the grounds that she didn't want other people to see how bad I probably was and humiliate the SOS-Brigade. I agreed with her of course, since arguing against her hardly ever works and she was actually right. I certainly didn't want people to see me sauntering about moving my hips and hands like a retarded dancing bear, which was bound to be the result of my attempts at dancing.

I didn't have to wait long for the others to start filing into the room one at a time after I had pushed aside the tables and chairs. First came Nagato; she stared about the room emptily, almost like looking for something. I soon realized there was no place for her to sit down and read as she usually did in the clubroom.

"Sorry about this, but you know how Haruhi gets," I apologized lamely.

Nagato nodded curtly.

"So, what do you think about all this dancing business?"

Nagato took a book out of her bag and held it up so I could read its title.

"'The basics of ball room dancing'… you actually went out and got a book on dancing?"

"Yes."

"Huh," was all I could say on that.

"It is an interesting social tradition," Nagato said flatly, opening the book and skimming through its index. "Consisting of patterns, sequences and alignments, forming networks like data. It's all very… systematic."

I raised my eyebrow at this. Nagato was not the kind to voice her opinions on much unless directly asked, and even then she would refrain from getting too personal. Or maybe it just didn't sound personal because of her cold, almost lifeless sounding vocabulary and tone.

"I see." I didn't really know what to say, except that I was glad to hear her voice some interest on anything more social than quietly reading to herself or working with computers occasionally. Maybe I can make it through this unwanted experience by focusing on what it means to her.

The next to arrive was Asahina-san.

"H-hello everyone," the cutie with an impeccable smile said as she entered the room.

She walked up to us, giving her lower lip a nervous little bite.

"Unsure of this whole thing as well?" I asked her, trying to start some innocent conversation to pass the time and distract me from my own uneasy thoughts concerning this dancing thing.

"Huh? No… No it's just that… I have no idea what constitutes a traditional dance or outfit in this time period," Asahina-san said, looking surprisingly serious.

Incredible. Even Asahina-san seems eager about this. Is it something genetic that simply makes girls like dancing or am I simply buying into centuries' worth of social stereotyping?

"I really do wonder what I should wear for such an occasion. I'm well acquainted with what is seen as fashionable in this current society, as per my orders to fit in, b-but the fact that this is a traditional dance for people of this time…" Asahina-san fidgeted with the hem of her uniform's skirt. "Uuuh, I have no idea how any of it should be done."

"…Don't worry, I'm sure… Haruhi will help you. She seems very enthusiastic about doing this thing right." Even if she has ridiculous time demands for us. How am I supposed to learn anything within a day?

"Good afternoon," Koizumi said as politely as ever as he entered the room.

Ah, a fellow compatriot at last. He's a guy like me (well, close enough), so he should be just as chromosomally challenged as I am when it comes to dancing.

"I haven't attended a ball in such a long time. I fear I have become incredibly rusty."

This statement however was followed by Koizumi taking what looked like the perfect stance and move about in an elegant and well thought-out pattern across the room to us. When he reached us he took a low bow.

What a showoff.

"A-amazing Koizumi-kun!" Asahina-san said in an impressed voice as she gave a short clap of her hands. "Could you show me how it is done? I'm just not sure how any of this is supposed to work."

"Why, it would be my pleasure."

Damn it, Koizumi! What happened to solidarity, the brotherhood of men? And now you intend on hogging Asahina-san to yourself as well? All of this is just outrageous!

"Hey~hoo!"

Let me detract that last statement as I'm sure I'm going to have to use it again shortly.

"So everyone's here then? Good."

I turned around to find Haruhi standing in the open doorway, holding a rather large cardboard box in her arms. It was actually so big it nearly covered her face. Haruhi compensated for this by alternating the side from which she would peep at us from behind the box. Her head kept darting to the left and right side and occasionally went to the top as well.

"Kyon! Take this box from me!"

As I took the unexpectedly heavy box, I was forced to ask the only logical question: "What's in it?"

"Everything we need to turn a dunce like you into a master ballerina."

"Wait, this thing is ballroom dancing… or is it?" Knowing Haruhi, she may have indeed signed us up for something even crazier.

"Ever heard of a hyperbole?"

Yes, I think, but with you, it's always hard to say where the figurative language ends and your delusions about life begin. With you spouting such nonsense like you usually do about the Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot, ancient treasure and even older conspiracies, it's exceptionally hard to tell what you yourself think is real or not. Which is probably the reason reality is so messed up.

"Right, you get the stuff out and prepared while I finalize my plans."

It's odd how Haruhi can make something as simple and relatively as innocent as preparing for dancing sound incredibly nefarious.

I peeked into the box and found a small pile of CDs, an old, big, boxy CD-player, some pamphlets and guide books and… Oh for the love of all that is holy!

"What the hell is this?"

Haruhi turned around, eyebrow raised as she frowned. "What is? And what's with the rude tone?"

"I thought you were joking about that ballerina thing…"

"Oh, so you noticed it, did you?" Haruhi smirked like a shark approaching its next meal.

"It's kind of hard not to…"

"Wha… what is it?" Asahina-san said, now immensely intrigued as she tiptoed closer to me so she could peer into the box. I lifted the box over my head and held it there. "Kyon-kun, please let me see!"

"No," I said sternly, "At least not until I know what Haruhi intends to do with it."

Asahina-san bounced up and down in front of me, persistently trying to get a peek inside the box. Let's just say her bouncing right there in front of me like that with – ahem – other bouncing bits wasn't helping my already agitated state of mind and leave it at that.

"Please, Kyon-kun, I really want to see it now!"

Haruhi had sat down on her table, one leg crossed over the other with her elbow resting on the top leg as she propped her chin in the palm of her hand. She smiled at us in an amused manner, not unlike a cat might when it plays with mice.

"What do _you_ think I want to do with it?" Haruhi was obviously enjoying tormenting me too much to stop yet.

"Haven't got the faintest idea, hence why I asked."

"Well, let's see, it's not that hard to figure out, is it? Just apply some simple logic. It's a piece of clothing, so obviously it's meant to be worn."

"Somehow I guessed that, but by whom and to what purpose?"

"Please, please, please." Asahina-san sounded even more eager than before, her pleading interspersed between her bounces. I was having a hard time trying not to follow her movements for the sake of public decency.

"No."

"My, aren't you nervous? Certainly you don't think _I_ would make _you_ wear it?" Haruhi took her propping hand away, sat up straight and indicated at her chest in an innocent maneuver.

"Yes, that is exactly what I think you might want me to do."

"Please, please, please!"

"No!"

Haruhi giggled at us. "Oh don't be silly. It's far too small for you. To be honest, I think we would all be far more creeped out by you wearing that thing than amused." She gave a fake shudder. "UUuUuuH…"

"Then what… you want one of them to wear it?" I gave Asahina-san, who had stopped bouncing for now and instead wore a cute frown on her face, and Nagato, who had started reading her dancing book in the corner of the room, a quick glance.

Now this was an entirely different development, something that shouldn't be discarded so easily.

"No, perv, I didn't actually intend on anyone wearing it today. I just grabbed the box from the dance club people and brought it here. We're just going to practice some ballroom dancing, there's no need for fancy training costumes. Besides, it's apparent to everyone that it would be far too distracting for you if anyone wore it, and frankly, we can't really waste any time since the thing's tomorrow, especially if you really are as bad as you say you are."

That's surprisingly logical of you Haruhi (possible theft aside). And apparently you are a bit too well acquainted with my thought processes. Although I'm not too hard to figure out, since I'm a pretty simple guy after all. I only wish some of the people around me were as simple as I am sometimes, especially one ribbon wearing girl in particular.

"Well, are you going to set everything up or not? Time's a' wasting," Haruhi said, waving her legs impatiently back and forth on the edge of the table. "C'mon, c'mon."

"Right…" I set the box down and took out the CD-player. It took a while for me to find a free socket to plug it into. After I had found one, leaving the player on the floor next to its power source, I found Asahina-san peering into the box as I turned around.

"Ah, isn't that cute. But I have to agree with Suzumiya-san, this would not have…" Asahina-san took a moment to carefully consider her following words, "uhm, fit you very well, Kyon-kun. Sorry."

I too would have to agree that the pink leotard and tutu would indeed not have suited me well. Just the very thought of wearing them makes me shiver in all the wrong places.

"Right. Let's get down to business." Haruhi said, that predatory smile once again slipping though a little through her excited expression.

She jumped off from her perch and strode over to the CD-player, digging into her uniform, hand snaking through her collar at something around her chest.

Just…just what do you think you're doing?

"Oh calm down before you die of raised blood pressure. Your head might explode."

Haruhi produced from some hidden spot on her personage a CD-case she had for some reason decided to not carry around with the others. I for one had no intention of exploring the idiosyncratic reasoning behind this bizarre idea of CD-case placement. The mere logistics of how it had been placed somewhere above her midriff and somehow remained hidden from plain sight already boggled the mind enough as it was.

"Don't think too much about it," Haruhi said, as if reading my thoughts. She opened the case and placed the CD inside the player. "I can tell you now, that the CD wasn't there, close to my heart, because I have some sort of sentimental attachment or something to it, but since I grabbed all this stuff from the Dance Club, I wanted to make sure I would have at least one CD to use if one of the idiots came chasing after me."

So she literally had grabbed all the stuff. One of these days, I should really try and have a proper discussion concerning basic ethical behavior. And if that proves to be too much of a challenge for Haruhi, I could always try such topics as common manners and the idea of private property. But this was neither the time nor the place for that now.

"Hmm, let's see, let's see here…" Haruhi muttered under her breath as she squatted in front of the player, putting the CD in place and searching for the correct buttons.

The Ride of the Valkyries nearly deafened us all.

"Whoops! Sorry!" She quickly stopped the music and turned around, actually looking a bit embarrassed. "Wrong song… heh… you can't really waltz to that, can you? _Although_…" She turned back to the CD-player much like a mad scientist would when he receives a frighteningly alluring idea.

"Perhaps it would be best to start out with some simple moves before we progress to the music, since we have novices among us," Koizumi suggested.

"Fine…" Haruhi got up and gave us all a long look. She made a bizarrely absent expression, almost as if her mind had left her body.

"What?"

"I only just realized we aren't evenly matched. One of the girls will have to sit out."

Only now? Some instructor you are. I thought you spent the last night planning this thing.

"Well, I guess there's nothing to do but what's proved to be tried and true."

Haruhi pulled out the oft used straws. She also took out a pen and gave an extra mark to one of the three straws that already had marks for the usual group of three. I quite often wonder if it's truly random chance determining our groupings or if it's all just Haruhi's powers at work.

"Everyone pick one."

And so we did.

The first drawing of the straws didn't exactly go according to plan (or maybe it did go according to _someone's_). Me and Koizumi got the same color, which in normal situations would have meant that the two of us would be paired up. All the girls would have been assigned to their own group as well. Nagato was the one to draw the one with the extra mark on it. But since this didn't work with the spirit of the draw, Haruhi demanded a redraw.

But this time, it would only be her and Asahina-san participating with only two of the straws, marked with opposing colors of course. Nagato was to be the first one to sit out the practices, since she had been the one to draw the extra lot. So now Haruhi only had two of them in her hand.

"Red for Kyon, blue for Koizumi," She said, offering the straws to Asahina-san.

Please pick red, please pick red, please pick red, please, please, please. I even crossed my fingers as I chanted this in my head.

But of course, this must have jinxed it.

"Blue… well, I-I think this might be better, since we will both be paired with someone who knows how to dance," Asahina-san said, looking at me, sounding rather apologetic.

Yeah, I guess, although it's not much of a comfort for me at the moment, since I'll be getting the impatient dragon for an instructor while next to me Koizumi will be getting unfairly close to a princess.

"Koizumi, you can dance as well?" Haruhi asked, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"Why, yes, but I fear I might be a bit rusty," Koizumi repeated his earlier lies with a slight smile.

"If I'd known that, then the pairings would have been obvious from the start. Of course, we still would have picked someone to sit out, but whatever. Well, let's get started." Haruhi clapped her hands together enthusiastically.

Within twenty minutes, there would be an entirely different tone in her voice and presence to her demeanor.

"Auh! Damn it, Kyon! Are you trying to crush every single bone in my feet?!" Haruhi shouted for the umpteenth time in that ridiculously short period of time for training. The calming sounds of classical music were horribly out of place as background music to such angry tones.

"Sorry," I hastily muttered my usual response. In fact, all I had to do was keep muttering it every ten seconds and no one would notice anything. Heck, it might even help out with the monotonous counting I'm doing in my head to help with the pacing.

She pushed me back a bit. "Look, it's not that hard." She pointed at the twirling pair of Asahina-san and Koizumi, both enjoying this practice a bit too much if you ask me. "See?"

That's not the problem. I know what I'm supposed to do, well, mostly. It's the execution that's faulty. I have no idea why it isn't working.

"Wow, Koizumi-kun, you're amazing!" I could hear Asahina-san's voice, now bittersweet to hear. After the initial glance at the dancing dynamic duo, looking in their direction just made me feel horrible, so I tried to refrain from doing it again.

"Thank you. You're not bad yourself," Koizumi answered. I could feel my irritation with the whole situation mounting. It was like a volcano building pressure inside my guts. Why does _he_ get to do this with Asahina-san when I'm stuck with a belligerent Haruhi shouting at me?

"Eh? Th-thank you." For some reason, a blushing image of Asahina-san in the arms of Koizumi wafted through my mind and made me even angrier. I was surprised to notice that my fists were tightly clenched and actually had to force them open before I lost all circulation in my fingers.

"Now dance like you mean it!" Haruhi shouted impatiently, scowling at me in an infuriating manner.

Fine! I've had just about enough of this as it is!

I forcefully grabbed Haruhi to twirl her about like I should have from the very beginning, so incredibly frustrated with my situation that I felt like being so full of pent up energy that it might allow me to finally succeed. But in my angry haste, I failed to account for a lot of things. For starters, I still didn't know what I was doing and taking Haruhi by surprise like that meant she wasn't ready at all. So as I spun her about lopsidedly, we lost balance and ended up falling over each other into the clothes rack with all the costumes we had collected. We fumbled about for a moment, both of us trying to dig our way out of the mess I had accidentally thrown us into.

"A-are you two o-okay?" Asahina-san asked timidly, having made it over to the wreckage, hands held together with apprehensive worry for us.

"Just what the hell did you think you were doing?" Haruhi shouted angrily as she struggled to get some long piece of clothing from around her neck.

"I… nothing. I must have tripped or something." I was too ashamed to admit what I had really intended. I wasn't entirely sure what had come over me anyway.

"Kyon, you are without a doubt the most clumsy, ungainly, awkward, graceless…" Haruhi's scowl suddenly went blank.

What?

"I ran out of words to describe just how much of a klutz you are," she said with a surprised voice, blinking in shock.

Oh, joy. There aren't enough words to describe how badly I fail at this. Nice…

Soon however, we were back at it again. There wasn't any significant improvement of course. In fact, saying that there was any improvement at all would have been a blatant lie. While Haruhi and I kept attempting to figure out how to dance in tandem, Koizumi and Asahina-san eventually parted, since they had actually transformed into something like experts in the time we kept bumping into each other.

I had thought that this would have been a chance for a break for us as well, but Haruhi was persistent in continuing. So with time to spare, Koizumi took his turn with Nagato, once again dancing with a girl in perfect harmony. It really didn't come as that much of a surprise that Nagato was good at dancing, since she had finished reading the book about it in the short time it had taken for it to be her turn.

Soon Koizumi and Nagato ended their rehearsal together, because there really wasn't any room left for improvement. Only Haruhi and I continued twisting about in the clubroom while the others shared snacks and partook in light conversation while we desperately tried to dance and get out of this infuriating situation.

After a long while, we finally took a break. We were both mentally and physically exhausted by the ordeal. Haruhi actually just lied down limply on the ground and ordered Asahina-san to wait on her like a slave, giving her sips of tea and feeding her patiently.

I slumped down between Nagato and Koizumi on the chairs they had set up along the wall.

"Koizumi, do something about that oaf, will ya?" Haruhi hollered from the floor and then went back to being served by the attentive Asahina-san.

"Huoh…" was all I could manage.

"Very well, Suzumiya-san. I think I might have a thing or two to point out to him," Koizumi said, smiling warmly before he turned to me and whispered, "If you are not too tired, might I suggest taking a stroll?"

I looked at the prone Haruhi on the ground, who still had the energy to bark orders at Asahina-san, and gladly welcomed the excuse to get away from her for a while.

We walked out of the building and into the pleasantly cool afternoon outside. Koizumi lead me to a nearby bench after he noticed how sluggishly I followed him around. I practically threw myself at the thing. I felt sore all over my body thanks to Haruhi's 'teaching'.

"So, how do you think it is going?" he asked politely, sitting down next to me.

"What do you expect? Horribly of course. I just can't get it for some bizarre reason."

"True, there are many technical faults in your routine, but… I do not believe that is the main cause of the trouble you two seem to be having. I have been watching you two and I believe I have found the most prominent detractor from success."

"Oh really. Please, do enlighten me, as you're sure to do."

"The problem lies practically just as much with Suzumiya-san in this area. She is taking far too a dominating role. It is _you_ who is supposed to lead, not her. But such behavior goes against the very foundation of her nature, doesn't it? She does not follow, she always leads."

"That she does…"

So the problem was that Haruhi was being the same domineering person she always was. Why am I not really all that surprised…? Sigh…

"So what should I do?" I asked.

"Well, there is not much you can do except force her to follow your lead."

"Oh, is that _all_?" This all sounds so incredibly inane. I should probably try to control my sarcasm a bit, but I'm just too tired to bother.

"Of course, since this is Suzumiya-san we are talking about, something as simple as merely pointing the fact out to her might prove more difficult than it would with a normal person."

"So once _again_, what should I do? I just want to get out of this as fast as I can."

"Hmm…" Koizumi silently thought about this for a long time. Then he got up and strode in front of me, looking very serious and somber indeed. He placed a hand on my shoulder. The feeling I was getting from him was that I was in a very grave situation, almost as if he were here to tell me of a deceased relative.

"I leave it up to you, since I can't think of anything," he said, smirking playfully.

…_You bastard._

Koizumi left me after that flippant remark, saying that there was nothing left for him to do, since he had given me all the help he could and there was apparently no room for improvement with the two other girls. I stayed back for a while on the bench, enjoying all the time I could before I would have to face my personal demon again. When I did return to the clubroom, I found Haruhi waiting alone in the room, working her way through various CD covers.

"Where are the others?"

"Gave them permission to leave, since they were ready." Haruhi glanced at me standing in the doorway. "I see Koizumi left as well. Good."

"Yeah…"

I replayed Koizumi's words to me in my head and tried to think of some way to bring up the subject with Haruhi without having her blowing up in my face. The very act of casting some doubt on her dancing skills would surely incur her wrath.

Since I couldn't think of anything, I tried something completely different.

"Maybe we should just give up on this whole affair."

"No. I've worked too hard on this."

"What do you mean? We've barely been doing this for five hours." I wasn't quite sure myself if I was being literal or sarcastic. On one hand it was true that five hours wasn't such a long time for something like learning a new skill set, but the way we were going about it, it felt like ages of torture.

"I won't accept this! I will make you dance even if it kills me!"

I actually believe that may be the case. We might easily be here until we're both old and senile. But for some reason, Haruhi seemed to be taking this whole thing as a personal challenge, and I know well enough by now, she can never back away from a challenge.

But if I wanted us to succeed in this, and thus allow my escape, I would somehow have to wrest control away from Haruhi. It would be a dance of a completely different sort, probably even harder to do than the actual dance I was supposed to do.

But before I could develop my ideas in any significant way, Haruhi put in a new CD, the next song beginning to play as she hurriedly grabbed me.

"Dance, Kyon! And do it right!"

And so the painful practice continued. Knees collided, shins were struck, toes were trodden on and butts were fallen on occasionally when balance was completely lost. In fact, it was the falling over that seemed to cause the most trouble for us, especially the last time it happened between us.

I'm not entirely sure what happened, but somehow our legs got tangled up as Haruhi tried to force me to go faster and she ended up falling backwards. But because of her firm grip on me and my shaky sense of balance in such unfamiliar poses as the ones I was trying to achieve, I ended up going over along with her. Luckily I didn't fall completely on top her. Instead, my unlucky left hand ended up taking most of the damage as it collided with the floor, far too close to Haruhi's face as I tried to prevent myself from falling on her with my full weight. We were so close our faces were almost touching.

And speaking of touching, one of my hands was doing so with reckless abandon and doing it to something it really shouldn't have. I had no idea how it had gotten where it was, but when one is about to fall on a girl, one doesn't really pay too much attention to such things when they are happening, although they do deeply wish mere seconds later that they had. But the fewer specifics supplied about what it was that I was actually touching the better, especially on how it felt. Perhaps it would allow me to repress such shamefulness later if I didn't focus too much on it now.

Haruhi gulped loudly, looking at me with an unfamiliar look in her eyes. The look was definitely one of shock, but there was something else there I wasn't able identify because I had never before seen it in her eyes. "Kyon, what… what do you think you're doing?" Haruhi's voice was oddly hollow sounding compared to her usual intensity.

"N-nothing," I stammered, quite shocked to find myself on top of Haruhi as well, touching what I was touching.

Suddenly something hard, presumably Haruhi's knee, collided with my groin at a dangerous speed. I quickly rolled off her, holding onto my injured parts for dear life as tears came streaming out of my eyes. Instinctively I wrapped myself into the fetal position.

"I – I wasn't go-going t-t-to do eh-anything," I whimpered in a high voice. "S-seriously."

"I… I know," Haruhi said urgently, looking all flustered and red as she sat up. "I wasn't thinking you'd do – I mean, I didn't mean to. It just happened. It was an accident, sorry… do you… need ice?"

"That… would be nice…"

Haruhi hastily left the room in search of ice. I remained on the floor, gently rocking the pain away. Eventually the pain did subside and I doubt there was any permanent damage. A guy doesn't go through life, or elementary school at least, without receiving a kick or some sort of other punishment to the crotch, so this was nothing new. Although something like this hadn't happened to me in a long time.

I got up and carefully walked over to a chair so I could sit on it, doing it all with a spread-leg approach. When I was confident that I had fully recovered, I took a look at my watch. I had no idea how long Haruhi had been gone, but it certainly felt like a long time. And on top of that, it was starting to get really late.

When Haruhi did show up, she looked a bit nervous, holding one of her arms by the elbow, and making sure to look at the walls of the clubroom and everything else in it but me.

"Sorry, I…" Haruhi pursed her lips and gave them a quick wiggle before she continued, "couldn't find any ice."

"That's… that's okay. I've made a full recovery, I think."

Haruhi's darting eyes suddenly affixed on me, all signs of past apprehension gone suddenly, looking as serious as a surgeon on his way to the ER. "Can you still, you know?"

"What?"

"You _know_."

Just what exactly are you asking me? Answering a question like that seems highly inappropriate.

"Continue practicing, of course."

Oh. For a moment there, I thought you were asking me something completely different. But now that I know… I wonder if I should straight out lie and get out of this exemplary exercise in futility. But there's something about that determined look in Haruhi's eyes that just makes me want to try my best as well.

"So you're really okay to continue?" Haruhi asked.

"Yeah. I guess I am."

"Good."

"Fantastic."

"Great."

"Brilliant."

"Just get your ass over here," Haruhi said, angry irritation I didn't want to toy with rearing its ugly head in her voice.

I got up and walked over to Haruhi, but as I approached, she once again started examining her surroundings. She had a little frown on her face that didn't really tell me anything about what she was thinking about.

"Well?" I asked her as I held my arms ready in the proper dancing position or at least what I thought it was.

Haruhi bit her lower lip and took a short, hesitant step away from me. Then she crossed her arms before she glanced at me from the corners of her eyes.

"What?" Why is she suddenly giving me the cold shoulder? "I thought you wanted to teach me how to dance?"

"Yeah, I thought I did, but apparently it's just not working out. I mean, we've been here for so long and then – well, it's just not working. I'm tired of this."

"What are you talking about? Just moments ago, you were ready to go again."

"Yeah, well… that was before you… before I realized how…"

"Before what?" Seriously, you aren't making any sense. You'll have to be a bit more specific or at least finish a sentence if you want anyone to follow.

"Never mind. I changed my mind," she said gloomily.

It was amazing. Barely a minute ago, she'd been rearing to go, but as soon as I had approached to actually do the dancing she wanted to do, she had suddenly become so unwilling to even look at me.

"This is starting to get kind of creepy anyway, with the two of us stuck here like this after hours."

"How so? It's not like there's anyone to see us." Thankfully. My horrible dancing would probably be the butt of everyone's jokes for a while, especially if someone like Taniguchi heard about it.

"That's exactly why it's creepy, being here alone, with you, with no one to see. Strange things always happen in situations like this between a guy and a – never mind. Let's… let's just call it a night and hope a miracle happens overnight."

Wow. Maybe I can just get out of this just like that. But this all seems so freaking weird. Leaving this unfinished like this would probably make me worry for some reason, not to mention I still don't know how to dance. If she really does intend to leave this all like this, how am I supposed to dance tomorrow if she still intends on us taking part in the ball?

She seems to be at a loss here, like a fish out of water or more like a general without an army. She's so – _not in control at the moment_.

Is this my… chance? This seems so incredibly convenient, almost as if this whole situation has been manipulated by a hidden mastermind from the background. Almost like we've been intentionally left here alone, with weakened defenses, in a situation where anything could happen. Why do I feel like I'm walking right into a trap or something?

"Well, I guess I'll pack up the player and CD's. I'd like to listen to them at home some more…" Haruhi said glumly as she turned around.

I felt weird, that was the best I could do to describe it. Yeah, I know, it sucks, but I just can't explain it any better than that. It was like something was being demanded of me, that I step up and do the impossible, now that all odds seemed against me. It felt out of place for me, but somehow incredibly… right?

I didn't know what was wrong with me. For some reason, I felt compelled to act in this situation that has thrust us into a position where anything could happen, just as Haruhi had said, maybe even intended on some level. But then she'd gotten cold feet, or maybe… _that_ was a part of the magic, the magic that seemed to force me to act as I did. She had wanted to do this so badly, how could I disappoint her now? She had been so eager to dance before, but now looked like someone who had heard that a ban had been placed on all holidays. It was oddly unbearable.

I _had_ to do _something_!

I grabbed Haruhi by the waist and spun her around, taking advantage of her shock to position myself properly. Before, I'd been too inexperienced and angry to make this work, but now it was all somehow different on every level. I took hold of her right hand with my left, my right one firmly against her back. She stared at me with wide, big eyes, unbelieving of what she was seeing. Her mouth was slightly agape as she inhaled in surprise. I took a step back with one foot and led her around, for the first time managing to lead her as I was supposed to, as she was so stunned by my sudden, commanding actions that she simply followed along, giving away to my hands, almost like she was melting away.

And just like that, we danced.

Everyone around us watched in silence as I lead Haruhi around the dance floor, surprising everyone (including myself) with how well it seemed to be going. Certainly I wouldn't be winning any awards, but it seemed that everyone else had been just as dubious of their skills as I had been. The long wait before the dance started hadn't been because of some sort of scheduling mistake, but no one really felt inclined to dance, being either too afraid to do so with doubtful skills or simply too nervous to dance with someone special to them.

Our slow dance in our little circle seemed to break the ice and soon we were joined by other twirling couples. I spotted Koizumi bowing to Asahina-san in the distance, with her blushing a little as she coyly held her hand in front of her mouth before she accepted his hand and was led into the throng, the two of them dancing more gracefully than any of the people around them as they slowly made their way towards us in the middle of it all, nimbly dodging other couples, making it seem like a real extravagant and beautiful dance number of professionals.

Haruhi smiled with such warmth in her eyes that I felt like I was in the center of a brilliant star, all previous qualms and illusions melting away until nothing but this moment between us existed. I felt like I was in a story book, in the presence of some wondrous spirit of nature that sought to show me the magic of the world, hidden just under the surface.

The four of us danced silently, each one staring deeply into their partners' eyes. It really did feel like the four of us were all alone in the warm magical presence of the music, and when it did end, we were roused from our dream-like reverie by the clapping of the other dancers. Shocked at first to hear the applause after our spell, I at first thought that the applause was aimed at us, but I quickly banished such egotistic ideas as I noticed the conductor taking deep bows, with everyone's eyes focused on the band.

"Um, Kyon-kun? Su-Suzumiya-san?" Asahina-san asked timidly, stepping closer. "You wouldn't happen to mind if we – that is –"

"Sure, Mikuru-chan, let's switch," Haruhi stepped away from me and towards Koizumi. "If you'll do me the honor?"

"It would be my pleasure," Koizumi said with warm smile.

"Oh, we better hurry, the next song is about to start," Asahina-san said as she grabbed onto me before I'd even got a chance to say anything.

The following dance with Asahina-san was practically just as magical as the one with Haruhi, although Asahina-san did say something occasionally, mainly complimenting my newfound dance skills occasionally whenever she gathered the nerve to look directly in my eyes. I too responded in kind, complimenting her, because I had a hard time thinking of anything else to say as I smelled the intoxicating scent of her hair and felt her beautiful body pressed so close to mine.

Occasionally I would happen to get a glance of Haruhi and Koizumi dancing. She wore an energetic smile and was actually having a conversation with him as they twirled about. For a brief moment, I wondered how she had managed to maintain her silence as the two of us had danced.

The night continued like that for a long while, with me and Koizumi switching partners, occasional banter and small talk being made with our partners in the midst of the dancing, until eventually we grew tired and were forced to leave the dance floor and rest for a bit. The broad glass doors I had mistaken for windows had been opened, revealing a large balcony set with tables and chairs and complimentary drinks.

It was only then that I spotted the last member of our Brigade. To my great shame, I had completely forgotten about her in the midst of all the dancing. Nagato was standing on the edge of the giant room, like a lifeless doll, watching the spinning of the other dancers with her vacant eyes.

"You guys go on ahead of me, there's something I have to do," I said as I broke off from our merry group.

"Huh? What are you…oh…" Haruhi noticed where I was heading and immediately her aggressively questioning tone turned into a soft and guilty sounding one.

"Kyon!" she however managed to shout after me. I stopped and gave her a look before she continued, "You better show Yuki a good time, or I'll kick your ass!"

She then led the two others, who both looked a little shameful, out towards one of the open doorways with a table near it on the balcony. I grinned after her, finding it funny to think I would even dream of intending to do anything else.

"Hey, Nagato, you wanna dance? You said you thought it was interesting, right?" I asked as I arrived next to the silent girl.

Nagato turned her head levelly to look at me with those unforgettable black hole-like eyes of hers, drawing me in inescapably, and gave the briefest of nods. I offered her my hand, and with incredible elegance, Nagato lowered her own hand on it with the grace of a seasoned veteran.

I led the quiet girl onto the dance floor to partake in some of the last dances of the evening. The music being played was of a slower tempo than before, allowing for a more relaxed atmosphere than earlier. Dancing with Haruhi and Asahina-san had had a certain intensity to it that was thankfully gone now with Nagato. I was allowed to relax in the slow and easy music.

"You weren't feeling lonely, were you?" I asked as we started our dance, swaying and spinning gently along with the music.

Nagato looked me dead in the eyes, and said quietly in that lovely monotone whisper of hers, "…No."

"Good." I gave her a smile. She just continued staring up at me with that old poker face of hers, and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

"I was propositioned to partake in the traditional dance practice by three other males but I refused. This was something I wished to experience with you."

"Really?" I was shocked to find that Nagato had actually waited for me instead of just going to dance, especially since even she had seemed eager, in her own little way, to dance.

"The book on dancing recommended doing it with someone of importance to you."

"Oh, wow… well, thanks."

"No, thank you."

I looked into those obsidian eyes of hers, which gleamed with a soft golden glow, losing myself completely in their dark reflections, seeing myself amidst the empty pupils, in the center of the lonely look. If I could, I wish I could stay like this forever with her. Even if she said otherwise, I often got a feeling of loneliness from Nagato that I just wanted to chase away with all my might, not that the goddess needed the help of such a lowly mortal as me. If anything, that sense of solitude seemed to only strengthen her far beyond anything a mere human could take. There certainly was no need for pity.

…

"Hey you two! Are you coming or not? The music stopped playing ages ago!" Haruhi shouted at us from a little table that had been set up near the great windows of the hall, open to allow the cool evening air into the hall from the balconies.

"Huh? What?" I had totally zoned out as I had been dancing with Nagato, staring into her beautiful eyes. I had no idea how long we had remained like that, on the now completely empty dance floor, with the band packing up to leave, but I felt like it still hadn't been long enough.

"C'mon and join us out here, it's a beautiful night!"

I gave Nagato a low bow, to which she responded with a perfectly measured curtsy. I took her hand and led her off the dance floor and to the others who were waiting for us. I pulled back a chair for Nagato and made sure she sat down in it before I took my own seat. All the while, Haruhi smiled at us and nodded approvingly at me as I sat down next to her, in the last remaining seat.

"Good job, Kyon. Now I won't have to punish you for forgetting Yuki-chan."

Hey, you forgot about her as well! Not that that's any sort of acceptable excuse or anything, but don't try to make me into the villain here. I don't deserve treatment like that.

"She seems to really have enjoyed it," Haruhi said, turning her warm focus to Nagato who was listening in on Koizumi's and Asahina-san's conversation, occasionally giving a quick reply if directly asked something.

They all looked so happy, and in my book, that meant the whole evening had been a magnificent success, no matter how much I may have been trying to weasel my way out of it originally. Now that it was practically over, I wouldn't have traded this experience for anything in the world.

"Good work," Haruhi said, placing her gloved hand on mine, which was resting on the table, gave it a little comforting tap, and then dispensed a tender smile my way. "And all you had to do was just dance."


End file.
